Colombian Navy: Cotecmar launches the new oceanographic vessel

The shipyard Science and Technology Corporation for the Development of the Colombian Naval and Maritime Industry (Cotecmar) has launched the new scientific-marine research vessel Simón Bolívar, which will be operated by the Colombian Navy (ARC).

The vessel is the product of a strategic alliance, signed in 2019, whereby Cotecmar selected the OSRV 8316 model from the European company Damen to adapt it to the operational needs of the Maritime Directorate (Dimar), which will deploy it mainly in the development of stage II of the Colombian Antarctic Program, as well as in the shipwreck of the San José galleon.

This agreement resulted in an exchange of technologies, knowledge, and experiences to provide Colombia with a vessel to provide technical and scientific support to the work carried out by the Dimar in its different maritime research programs, both in jurisdictional waters and in scientific missions on the white continent.

CAPABILITIES

The vessel -with a displacement of 3,600 tons- has a draft of 4.2 meters, a length of 83 meters, and a beam of 16 meters, reaches speeds of up to 16 knots, is capable of accommodating up to 90 people, has an autonomy of up to 36 days and an operational range of up to 22,000 kilometers.

The vessel has a bridge with 360-degree vision, as well as a Class 1C ICE hull design, which allows operations in extreme climates, also accommodates a flight platform, adapted for both day and night operations, as well as a hangar for Bell Helicopter (Textron Company) 412EP and Airbus Helicopters AS365 Dauphin (or up to 22,000 pounds) helicopters and a platform for scientific work, with a frame (type A) at the stern.

The Simón Bolívar is designed to carry out research campaigns in the waters of both oceans, being able to take data at depths of up to 7,000 meters and to be used in other scientific projects that the ARC has been carrying out for several years.

INCREMENTAL DESIGN

Cotecmar is a shipyard that not only designs vessels conceptually but also has the capabilities for their construction as well as for their maintenance -and modernization-, characteristics that have made it a reference at a regional level and producer of a series of platforms (maritime and fluvial) successfully commercialized in the country and abroad.

These capabilities have made it possible to manufacture this vessel in 47 different blocks and with a design that will allow navigation and polar exploration, thanks to its ice belt (two-meter reinforced sheet in the flotation zone) and its dynamic positioning system, which guarantees the stability and position of the vessel thanks to the transverse engine in the bow and its propeller configuration.

With information from InfoDefensa